Crouching Tiger, Hidden Gordon
by Hybryd0
Summary: When a call out turns out to be an ambush instead of a rescue, Gordon has to brush off some old skills to save his big brothers


AN: First fic in this fandom, so I'm still trying to find the character voices. TAG verse but I'm mixing some other stuff in like Gordon's time in WASP. There's a little bit of German that I used an online translator for, so please forgive me if it's not correct. I have an everlasting hatred for titles, we're not friends.

xxxx

They came out of the treeline just in time to see two big guys surprise Scott and Virgil with tasers. Watching his big brothers go down took ten years off of Gordon's life and it was only his training that allowed him to grab Alan and cover his mouth before he could reveal their presence. He dragged his younger brother back into the cover of the trees and ducked into the shadows, still keeping a close eye on what the thugs were doing to his brothers.

For a moment the two thugs wandered around the Thunderbirds as they obviously looked for ways in leaving his brothers unconscious on the ground. Gordon made sure Alan wasn't going to do anything drastic before he triggered the com on his sash. He didn't use his watch because he didn't want the light of the holocom to give away their position.

"Thunderbird Five, lockdown One and Two, now," Gordon said without any preamble.

"Done," John said a second later. "What's going on?"

"Two guys knocked out Scott and Virgil and they're inspecting the 'birds right now," Gordon said. "Alan is with me. Are you still unable to get a read around here?"

"That's an affirmative," John replied.

"I smell setup," Gordon said.

"Why are we just waiting around?" Alan demanded. Always the hothead.

"We can't just go rushing in there, Al. We don't know how many of them there are and we don't have a way of getting close without being seen," Gordon said.

"What if they're armed with more than tasers?"

Gordon frowned, eyes still watching the scene carefully. "If they wanted to kill them it would have been easy for them to do when they ambushed them."

"All of us are more valuable alive," John chimed in, voice grim.

Two more men exited from a dilapidated building and strolled casually over to their cohorts. They stood over Virgil and Scott and by the way they were gesturing around Gordon could tell they were carrying on a conversation. Two of the men were very animated, one of them gesturing towards his brothers and then out to the forest surrounding the abandoned mining camp.

"I've patched into Thunderbird Two's audio sensors," John said. "They're speaking German so I won't distract you with the audio. The basics are they're after the Thunderbirds and they know you two are out there somewhere, but they seem to have a pretty low opinion of your abilities to thwart them."

"Their mistake," Gordon growled. He watched as the first two guys each picked up one of his brothers and carried them into the dilapidated building. A third guy followed them in while the fourth started patrolling around the Thunderbirds.

"Indeed," John said, voice as cool and calm as always, but Gordon could hear the thread anger in there. "They're planning to wait for you two to come back and surprise you the same way they did Scott and Virgil."

"They're the ones in for a surprise," Gordon said. He turned to Alan and took in his younger brother's determined expression. Oh his brother was not going to like what he had to say. "Alan, I need you to stay here and keep an eye on the perimeter for me."

"Hey no-."

"Alan," Gordon said sharply, a tone he didn't pull out very often. It broke through Alan's tirade before it could get started. "There could be even more of them. I need you to be my eyes out here while I go inside. I'm not trying to keep you out of the action, but with John's scanners not working down here I need someone to watch my back."

Alan still didn't look completely happy about it, but he nodded anyway. That was okay, Alan could be as unhappy about it was he wanted to be as long as he was out of the worst of the danger. And watching Gordon's back.

"John, have they said anything else I should know about?" Gordon asked.

"All small talk right now," John reported. "I'll let you know if I hear anything important. Be careful."

"I will," Gordon said. He didn't bother to tell John not to worry; worrying was a big brother's prerogative and his three big brother's were masters at it. He turned to Alan. "Stay here until it's clear and let me know if you see anything at all."

"FAB," Alan said, somewhat sullenly.

Gordon couldn't waste another moment worrying about whether Alan would follow his orders or not. He started to move through the shadows, following the treeline around towards the back of the building his two brothers were in. All the while he stayed alert for the possibility that there were more hostiles in the forest looking for him and Alan.

Quickly, but quietly, he made his way around to the back of the building. He'd spotted a back door when they'd come in for a landing earlier. No one was standing guard there, but he still waited a moment just to see if anyone would come patrolling by. When there was no movement he dashed for the back door.

He gave one brief moment to hope his luck would hold out and there wouldn't be some kind of alarm on the back door before he ducked inside. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimmer lighting inside then crept carefully down the hall. It wasn't a big structure and it only took him finding a couple of abandoned bedrooms to realize it must have been the living quarters for the mining crew when they'd been there.

The echo of voices drew him down a corridor that branched off of the main hall that seemed to just circle the living quarters. Crouched carefully in what shadows the corridor provided, Gordon watched as two of the thugs tied Scott and Virgil up to one of four pillars. His brothers were still out cold and it didn't look like the guys roughed them up, which was good for those thugs. For that, Gordon wouldn't hurt them...too badly.

The men stood around and talked, but unfortunately Gordon's German was spotty at best. In fact, languages weren't really his thing and he'd struggled through a couple of years of French in high school because taking one foreign language was a prerequisite, but most of it hadn't stuck. He wasn't going to learn anything by listening to them, but he watched them for a couple of minutes until he realized they weren't going to be leaving.

And where was the third man? Gordon remembered with a start that three men had re-entered the building. He didn't like that he couldn't account for the third guy.

Setting that aside he surveyed the actual surroundings. It was an open area all the way to the roof, giving each level a clear view of the ground floor. Perfect.

Gordon crept back into the hall and made his way around the corridor until he found the stairs leading up. He took the stairs as carefully and quietly as he could just hoping they wouldn't make a sound. He needed surprise on his side.

The second floor was just a copy of the first with bedrooms circling the open area. He crept up to the railing that was probably meant to keep drunken miners from taking head dives to the floor and peered down, surveying the area once again. The two thugs were still standing around, his brothers still appeared to be out cold, and the third thug was still MIA. That last bit bothered him, but he didn't have time to look for the guy; there was no telling if reinforcements weren't already on the way.

That thought spurred him into action. He pulled his grappling gun, took aim at the ceiling, and with one final steadying breath he fired. The sound cracked through the silence of the building, but before the two thugs could react Gordon was already in motion. He leapt onto the railing and then jumped, using the grappling line to swing through the air like some kind of would-be pirate.

With his legs fully extended, the impact with the first thug jolted up his body and he knew without a doubt he'd be needing heat pads for his back that night. The man he connected with stumbled back and then tripped over something and his head connected with the corner of pillar as he went down. Gordon let go of the grappling gun and dropped to the floor.

The second thug came at him with a messy wild right hook. Gordon easily took advantage of the sloppiness. He sidestepped and let the man stumble forward but grabbed the thugs outstretched arm and used his momentum to swing him around headfirst into the same pillar as his buddy. The blow only seemed to stun the man, but Gordon finished him off with a knee to the face.

With both of the visible thugs taken care of, Gordon turned his attention to freeing his brothers. He froze briefly when he saw Scott's eyes open, but while his oldest brother's eyes seemed to be tracking his movement, he didn't quite seem aware of what was going on. He knew it was a good sign that Scott was already coming around though so he thanked his lucky stars for that.

Pulling the little knife he kept in his boot, Gordon set to work cutting the rope that held his brothers fast against the pillar. Once that was done he turned his attention to the ropes that had been used to bind Scott's arms behind his back. That was when he realized that he had a problem. It was all fine a dandy to knock out the guards and cut his brothers free but if neither of them was conscious they wouldn't be going anywhere fast.

Gordon tapped his sash. "How's it looking Alan?"

"The one guy is still just watching the 'birds. No sign of anyone else," Alan replied instantly. "Need any help?"

Gordon weighed his options. With Alan's help they could get their big brothers out of the building, but without anyone else covering them it would be much more risky. If only something wasn't screwing up John's sensors, his brother in space could have monitored the area around them.

"No, stay there for now," Gordon said.

Gordon didn't hear whatever protests Alan may have had. He saw the slight widening of Scott's eyes and that was all the warning he got before he felt the cold press of metal against the back of his neck. Well, he finally knew where the third guy was.

The man said something to him in German and since he couldn't ask John to translate for him he could only guess what it was. It didn't matter though, Gordon had no plans on doing anything the man wanted anyway.

"Okay, take it easy."

"schließen Sie das Versauen!"

That one Gordon knew. John had told him to shut the fuck up in many languages over the years. It had rarely ever worked.

"Alright man, calm down," Gordon said, putting his hands up in a show of surrender.

The man snarled something else then grabbed Gordon by the back of the neck and yanked him up. At the same time he pressed the gun between Gordon's shoulder blades.

"Classic mistake man," Gordon said casually.

As the man took a breath, no doubt to tell Gordon to shut up again, Gordon twisted his body around grabbed the gun, shoving it at to the side away from himself and his brothers, and at the same time stepped in to throw an elbow into the thug's jaw. As the man stumbled, Gordon brought the gun arm down on his knee and though he didn't quite snap it, it was enough of a shock for the thug to release the gun. He gave it a swift kick away just for good measure.

The thug recovered from the initial blow and swung at Gordon. He deftly blocked it with one arm and threw a hard jab into the man's gut causing him to double over. Gordon was good with his fists, but his real strength was in his legs, toned and powerful from years of competitive swimming. It was a fact he demonstrated when he brought his knee up into the thug's face and the man crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

A startled noise from one of his brothers alerted him to trouble behind him and he turned just in time to see the fist flying at his face. He tilted his head just enough for it to be a glancing blow to his cheek rather than take it full on. The hit still put him off balance and his eyes watered at the pain that followed. He hadn't been prepared for one of the other thugs to come to so quickly.

The man threw another punch at him, which Gordon had enough sense to block, but this time he was the one taking the sucker punch to the gut. A rough shove sent him sprawling to the ground and before he could react he took two violent kicks to his ribs. Then the man dropped down on him, a knee planted firmly on his chest hindering his breathing while a big meaty hand wrapped around his throat.

Suddenly he was in a much more dire position than he'd anticipated. He tried not to panic; he knew due to his training that it would only make things worse for him, but when the thug grabbed on of his arms and pinned it down he knew there was no way he could free himself with just one hand free.

"Hey!"

The man looked toward Scott's shout and therefore took a chunk of plaster straight to the face. Instinctively the man clapped both hands to his smarting head and that gave Gordon the opening he needed. He sat up and boxed the man straight in the throat and the thug tumbled off of him. Gordon used another shot to the head with the plaster just to make sure the guy stayed down.

"Fourth guy is headed your way, Gordon," Alan reported suddenly. "Do you-."

"Stay there," Gordon ordered before Alan could offer to help. It would have been more effective if his voice hadn't been reduced to a croak, but he didn't have time to worry about it.

Weary and battered, Gordon dragged himself up and took a quick glance at his brothers. Scott was using the dive knife to finish freeing himself from his bonds, but he wouldn't be done in time to help. Virgil was awake, but he didn't seem quite as alert though his eyes tracked Gordon's movement.

Careful to keep out of the line of sight of the door, Gordon dashed over to hide beside it. Just seconds later the last thug walked through the door. Gordon was glad he had the element of surprise on the guy because he was easily twice Gordon's size in height and width. If he'd taken the mountain of a man head on he was pretty sure he'd just be a bloody smear on the floor.

The man froze just inside the door, clearly spotting his downed compatriots. "Was ist das?"

Gordon didn't give him a chance to go any further. He lunged with a kick that had all his power behind it aimed right at the back of the man's knee. It didn't take quite that much to do damage, but he was angry and hurting and didn't need to take any chances that the big brute would be able to fight back. The man crumpled with a scream and Gordon silenced him just as quickly with a kick to the face.

Scott had already freed himself and had Virgil most of the way cut loose by the time Gordon got over to them.

"Heads up," John said suddenly, "there's a caravan of vehicles headed your way and there's at least thirty heat signatures."

Gordon swore violently and rushed over to help his brothers. Scott had Virgil free and together they hauled him up between them. They started moving for the door as quickly as they could.

"Alan, get to the 'birds, now," Gordon ordered. "John, ETA?"

"Ten minutes until they're there, but I lose them to the blind spot in five," John replied.

They were lucky that the building they were in was on the outskirts of the little mining town and the Thunderbirds were parked within sprinting distance. Not that they could sprint while supporting a still recovering Virgil between them, but Scott and Gordon still made good time to the 'birds. Alan was already waiting there for them, panting from the exertion and looking more than a little concerned for his older brothers.

"Gordon-," Alan started, eyes widening.

"Get Thunderbird One airborne," Gordon cut off his brother before Alan could ask about his condition. They simply didn't have time for it.

"I can fly," Scott protested.

"No," Gordon said shortly, as they waited for the ramp into Thunderbird Two to lower. In hindsight he probably should have had John do that remotely. "We have no idea what the side effects of those things they hit you with could be and we don't have time for debates about it. You and Virgil are going straight to the sickbay."

To Gordon's relief neither Scott, nor Virgil for that matter, argued with that. He trusted them to get settled in as he made a beeline for the cockpit. He wasn't a natural pilot like the rest of his brothers, his strength was definitely in the water. It had taken him longer to earn his certification for Thunderbird Two than it had for any of the other 'birds, but when push came to shove he could fly her well enough to get them to safety. He'd never meet Virgil's standards, but then again he doubted anyone ever would.

He heard and felt the vibration of Thunderbird One starting up and willed his little brother to go faster. He wouldn't be able to relax until they were both in the air and headed far away from the disaster the rescue had turned out to be. Although, because of the thugs underestimating him it wasn't nearly the mess it could have been.

He felt the vibration deepen as Thunderbird One lifted off and turned his focus fully on getting Thunderbird Two airborne as well.

"They've hit my blind spot. ETA five minutes," John said. He didn't say hurry up, but the hint of urgency in his voice said it for him.

Ideally there would have been pre-flight checks he would have been in the co-pilot seat instead of the pilot's, but he didn't have time to worry about any of that. He could see the moment the caravan broke through the tree line and thankfully it was the same moment he lifted off. It wasn't as smooth as Virgil's takeoff would have been, but it got them in the air and away from the bad guys and that was all that mattered.

"Cutting it close there, Thunderbird Two," Alan said, but Gordon could hear the relief behind the teasing.

"Tell me about it," Gordon muttered. "I sure hope Virgil isn't aware enough to have felt that takeoff. I'll never hear the end of it."

Although, he was relatively sure that having saved his brothers would earn him a little bit of a reprieve. Just a little. At any rate, Virgil would probably be too busy playing medic to harp on him about how hard he was on his girl.

Once they were safely on the way, Gordon flipped on the autopilot and sat back. With the adrenaline that had been pumping through his body starting to diminish he was really starting to feel those hits he'd taken. It had been a long time since he'd had to use the skills he'd learned during his short stint in WASP and he realized now that he'd let them get too rusty. If there were thugs like those guys who were going to be a threat then he'd make sure he was ready for them next time.


End file.
